December 25, 2008, at 10:06 am

Czech Recipe – Koláče

This is one of the best Czech desserts – Koláče! I’m not talking about the fake, American version of koláče sold in some donut shops and wanna-be koláče bakeries. Those that I have tried are are NOT real koláče. I’m talking about delicious, authentic Czech koláče like my mom used to make. Mom would make large, 12-14 inch koláče with poppy seed, prune, apricot, and cream cheese fillings sprinkled with posypka. During my 3 month stay in the Czech Republic, I would often go to a bakery down the street from my grandmother’s apartment and purchase small, individual sized koláče (about 3-4 inches in diameter) like those I made below:

Below is the recipe I used. After baking, I realize there are some things that I’ll need to change next time I make these. First, I believe I need to reduce the amount of yeast (to 1 tablespoon). Second, instead of dividing the dough into 16 pieces, I might be able to get away with doubling that (to 32 pieces) resulting in koláče not as large as those pictured above.

Koláče Recipe:

Prepare the same dough as the Vánočka. Allow it to rise in a warm location for 60 minutes.
Punch dough down, place on a floured surface, and divide into 16 pieces. Roll into balls about 2 inches in diameter. **I will try making these into 32 balls next time.**
Place dough balls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 30-45 minutes.
Flatten the centers of the dough balls with the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in flour. This will give you a nice, mini “pizza” shape with a rim around the edge to surround the filling.
Brush the rim of the dough with whisked egg.
Pipe the desired filling into the center. My ABSOLUTE favorite filling is cream cheese – see recipe below. I placed the cream cheese filling in a gallon-sized zip top bag and cut off one corner of the bag to pipe it in.
Sprinkle with posypka (see recipe below).
Let rise 15-20 minutes.
Bake in a 350^oF oven for 20-25 minutes. Cool and enjoy!